Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-04-28
CARROT RAISING.
a Root That ID Likely to Become t.
Favorite Feed for Horses.

ESvoEls0 reed tOr HOr8eo.
During the past few years carrots
have proved to be one or the most
profitable crops raised in the vicinity
of Chicago. They are used for feed
ing horses in the city. and the demand
for them is annually increasing. Last
fall many carloads of carrots were
brought to this city from Wisconsin.
Horse-keepers who commence to feed
carrots rarely ever discontinue their
use. They state that one feed on car
rot each day affords an agreeable
change from diet of dry hay and
oats; that they form good substitute
for green fodder. and that they enable
horses to digest their other food.
Horses that have daily feed of carrots
invariably have glossy coat of hair,
that greatly improves their appear
ance. The horses themselves have
done much to increase the demand for
carrots. as they soon show a preference
for them. Animals that have been ac-
custOmed to eating carrots for some
time and are then deprived of them
will make an effort to take them from
gardeners wagons whenever they pass
them. In the opinion of many carrots
will soon form part of the daily
ration of horses kept in large towns.
If their feeding value, as determined
by analysis. is not as great as that of
hay and oats, their respective prices
being taken into consideration. they
hold that they increase the value of the
latter by being eaten in connection
with them.
According to the chemists Eve
pounds of carrots contain as much
nutriment as one pound of oats. The
stomach of living animal and not the
laboratory Of chemist is the place
for determining the feeding value of
any kind of food, for that shows what
proportion of it is digested. Agricult-
ural chemists have recently had much
to do in determining the kinds of food
that can be fed to farm animals to the
best advantage. Their investigations,
however, are entirely theoretical.
They show the amount of food material
given article contains. and not what
proportion of it is digested and con-
verified into fat and muscle. Many
articles are used as food for human
beings that would have very small
value given to them hy an operator in
a chemical laboratory. fortunately
for those who sit at their tables.
chemists are not employed by the
keepers of hotels, restaurants and
boarding-houses to decide on what is
proper food. 1t IS only our ''poor re-
latiOns" that live in barns and stables
who have their food selected for them
on strict scientific principles. Posi-
bly, the time is not distant when the
tastes of animals will be observed by
persons who have charge of them, and
that they will he allowed, under suita-
BILE restrictions, to select the articles
they will eat.
The quantity of carrots that can be
produced on an acre of ground will
largely depend on the amount Of ferti-
lizers that are placed on it, the labor
spent, ana the distance the rows are
apart. A gardener and seed-raiser in
Eastern Massachusetts claims to have
raised nearly forty tons of carrots on
an acre of land to which large amount
of commercial fertilizers was applied.
and which was cultivated by hand.
An Ohio farmer states that zone thou
sand bushels of carrots are as easily
attainable as one hundred bushels of
corn" This yield would amount to
twenty-seven andfa half tons per acre.
But it is not easy, though it is possible,
to raise one hundred bushels of corn on
an acre. Most farmers are satisfied if
they raise fifty bushels of corn on an
acre, and they will be content with 500
bushels of carrots. These would weigh
p, 500 pounds, or 1872 tons. reckoning 30
pounds as the weight of a bushel of
carrots. This is about the average
crop TdlScu INC NICluItN VI
and the ordinary price is $40 per ton.
delivered at city stables. OF course.
hand labor is required to
raise a field of carrots. but most of it,
which consists of wedding and thin
ming the growing plants. can be per-
formed by persons who can not per-
form hard work in the fields. The
of labor necessary to produce
q crop of carrots will depend largely on
the condition of the soil in respect to
and freedom from the seeds
of weeds and grass.
The soil intended to produce carrots
should be deep. rich and finely pulver-
lied. The manure applied to it should
be well rotted and thoroughly incor-
porated with the soil. The surface of |
q carrot-field should be nearly level. for !
if it is uneven the seed will be likely to !
be washed out Of the high places if
heavy rains occur after sowing. The
soil would also be likely to be washed
away from the young plants. The
II 4 IL IL